Crankbait Bite is Heating Up!

Went out yesterday after the rain and pulled cranks through a few of my favorite “catch eaters quick” spots. No problem finding walleyes and saugers willing to attack a crankbait. And I do mean attack! Most of the fish I caught yesterday had at least 1/2 of the crankbait inhaled. No problem at all of fish coming “unbuttoned” All of the fish came on sandy flats in 8-12 feet of water. The speed that worked for me was around 2.5mph. No fish of any great size, although the vast majority were in the 17-19″ range – a nice mix of both walleyes and sauger with just a couple of short fish. Don’t be afraid to pull both ways – yesterday it didn’t seem to matter. Color wasn’t real critical although the good old Firetiger seemed to be as good as any. Key was to stay near the bottom – if you’re bumping the bottom every once in a while – you’re just right.

Check your PMs. Thanks.

I found the same hot bite on Tues at the head of the lake pulling cranks. Lots of 17-20″ Saugers and Walleyes (about 3-1 saug). Firetiger was the hot color for me also. Crawdad also took a few. Easy limit in 45 minutes

So… what was the hot depth for you at the head? I’ve not been out, stuck in the office getting the site rolling again.

Thanks in advance!

James,

Looks like all of the time in the office has been well spent! Looking good. The best depths for me were 4-7′. Some contact with the bottom was the key. Most of my fish came from within 100 yards either direction (up or down stream) from the log sticking up at edge of the Bay city flats — right where the WI channel dumps in. They seemed to be moving up and down off the flat into the trough.

(ps) We also ran down to Point no Point. No eyes, but did get a 11 lb Flathead on one of my 14′ trolling rods. It absolutely hammered a #5 Firetiger. Very cool

Corbin

Sounds good. Thanks for the reply. I’m going fishing through the weekend and a little point in the right direction never hurt.

Hey James…………I got a spot for you to try . I know there is some big un’s in there

Where Dusty?-In your livewell cause you caught em all? Can we jig your livewell?
Thanks, Bill

Once again got out after the rain – decided to try the head of the lake. No doubt about it – anyone can catch a quick limit there right now! Without even knowing for sure where the catching was going on, I started right by the snag mentioned above – 7 runs before I made it to the tip of the island without catching a measureable fish. Much like the day before, a mix of walleye and sauger (3:1 in favor of the saugers) with just about all of them in the 16″-19″ range. The very last fish I caught was a 20″ walleye that was the largest of my 4 hour excursion. Total around 50 fish, only one of which was a silver, one a sheephead and all the rest walleye or saugers. If you want eaters, the quality of the sauger bite is superb!

How is the ramp at Bay City? I am going tomorrow, hoping for light boat traffic with the MN opener and the RCL at Bigstone.

Anything biting down by Maiden Rock yet??

I fished Maiden Rock this afternoon and put together a nice mix of walleye and sauger for customers. With the sun out mid-day the jointed #5’s in 11′ – 12′ of water was best and when the wind picked up and the light rain started to fall, the regular #5’s were best in 7′ – 8′ of water. Trolling speeds just a touch over 2 MPH (slow for this time of year in my opinion) triggered best. Firetiger for the sauger and craw for the walleye.

Bite held up well over the weekend for me too. Same colors with a slight edge to the crawdad. I also found that 2-2.4 mph worked best. I thought that was slow and tried faster. Anything over 2.5mph, all I caught was silvers.

Yer absolutely right! Been beating the snot out of those myopic little critters for the past three days. trolling mostly wally divers and RipSticks with orange or fire tiger hues. Most productive areas for me on pool 9 have been around the north end of blackhawk island drifting along the channel edge and up in Minn. slough. Most fish 15-18 inches–but there is always 4+ pounder in the mix. If any of y’all are fishing here and happen to land a pike with four of the aforementioned cranks hanging from her face would you please let me know ??

guess what i found today !!

How in the world did i miss you ?

Do you guys typically run your cranks w/ planer boards?

No boards for me lately. Straight off the side of the boat.

Guys, been reading your reports on trolling and would like to give it a try. I do a lot of jig fishing, and throwing plastics,and would like to put trolling in the arsenal. What would be a good reel, pole, line combination to get started with.

Thanks for any info,
Toad

I also haven’t used boards yet – right off the side of the boat. Speaking of the Northern with all the baits in it, I snagged a MESS of fishing line up by the dam the other day. I reeled in 4 jigs plus I saw another bright yellow one stuck in a small walleye which managed to get away. As far as trolling rods go, just to get started with, you can get away with just about anything. When I’m alone in the boat, I prefer a pair of 8′ medium action rods with good line counter reels spooled with power pro. There was a pretty good discussion earlier on line preferences if you want to research that a bit.

Another question…
Does any one use a 3-way swivel / with weight or bottom bouncer type rig ahead of the crank to increase depth? Will this work or does it limit the action of the crank bait?

Last question…Big Dad, Sir,
I read your reports and headed to Covell landing last Friday (as I wrote in a different post). I got my azz handed to me. Was I lost? I primarily fish the sides of the channel south of Covell. From the Green marker / cut thru, down to the bouyes that lead into the lake itself.

Actually, right along the buoy lines you refer to is generally what I consider fishing the “head of the lake” Last week along there, the majority of fish I caught was right around 8″ deep. The red side was better mid week but by the weekend I did better high up the green side. If boat traffic permits, this is one of those areas that can be fished going either way. In fact, a good share of the bigger fish I have caught is going downstream on the red side. With numbers favoring going up the reds and down the greens. As far as three waying cranks I do that a lot early on when a slower presentation is key. Also later on when the big bite is way deeper, 3 waying can work on occasion but generally speaking you need to go faster. If I need to go deep and fast, I prefer snap on weights. Also lead core works very well although my experience with that is strictly with other people as I do not have any lead core rods personally. Sorry I didn’t give you more detail for last Friday – I was there Friday afternoon and caught a tremendous number of fish on the red side running #5 jointed in 8′ at 2-2.5 mph

Thank you so much. I’ll try again. It’s hard to accept defeat!
Let me know if you ever come thru the dam (north to Prescott). Perhaps I can repay the favor. I usually know of a few certian wing dams.